INDIANA STATE PRISON CEMETERY

Indiana State Prison Cemetery Photo

Aerial View of Cemetery

Compiled by Patricia Gruse Harris
------- June 2006 ------

The original prison cemetery was
located on the south side of the prison near the corner of present day
Woodlawn Avenue and Hitchcock Streets.
This probably began when the
prison, known originally as the Northern State Prison, was located at
Michigan City in 1860, or soon after.
All vestiges of that cemetery no
longer exist.

The present prison cemetery is located just west of the prison walls on
prison property and is maintained by the prison’s groundskeepers.
In
1925, Warden Walter Daly dedicated one-half acre near the southwest
corner of the wall after the original cemetery became too full.
The
first inmate buried in the cemetery was Sam Thomas on June 10, 1927. In
2001 additional space was added to the cemetery and
is known as Section
“B”. There are close to 350 inmates buried here. Most of the inmates
buried here are from the Indiana State Prison.
A few come from
Westville Correctional Center and other state correctional facilities.

It is the final resting place for inmates whose loved ones forgot or
ignored them, or couldn’t afford to pay for their burial.
Area funeral
homes take turns with burial arrangements and a funeral service is
conducted in the prison chapel.
Simple tombstones about 1-1/2 feet tall
are made by the inmates and have the deceased inmate’s name,
prison
identification number and date of death inscribed on them. They are
arranged evenly in rows, but there are no flowers or decorations.
However, Veterans of Foreign Wars members have performed a ceremony at
the cemetery on Memorial Day, but no one else is there.
Upon request,
family members may visit the graves of their loved ones any day of the
year.

Following is a list of the burials at the Indiana State Prison
Cemetery, Michigan Twp., La Porte Co., IN courtesy
of Barry
Nothstine, Administrative Services, Indiana State Prison. (WCC)
indicates inmate died at Westville Correctional Facility;
(CIF) at
Correctional Industrial Farm; (WCF) at Westville Controlled Facility;
(Newcastle) correctional facility at New Castle, IN.